Seb Lee-Delisle

Upcoming creative coding conferences in Europe

Seb Lee-Delisle — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 11:42:08 +0000

Here are a couple of events that I’ll be speaking at over the next couple of months and definitely worth checking out.

FITC Amsterdam

27th-28th February 2012, Amsterdam, Netherlands

I think this might be my fifth FITC Amsterdam in a row! I’ll be flying through this time (it always happens right around my birthday) and presenting some live JavaScript coding things in a 90 minute session right at the start of day 2.

In another session in the afternoon, I’ll be interviewing Ricardo Cabello (AKA Mr doob) live on stage. I’ll ask him about his recent projects with Google, the three.js 3D library, and how he managed to become such an amazing creative coder. The interview will be recorded for the next Creative Coding Podcast episode.

I’m also looking forward to catching up with old friends Mario Klingemann and Grant Skinner, but sadly, in a truly disastrous planning malfunction, Golan Levin is leaving right before I arrive!

FITC Amsterdam info and booking.

Beyond Tellerrand Play

24th-27th April 2012, Köln, Germany

Having grown from FFK, Play12 promises to be an inspirational event. Last time I was there I got stuck thanks to volcano Eyjafjallajökull, although I was stuck along with Joshua Davies, Jesse Freeman and the Influxis guys so it could have been a lot worse.

Josh will be there again, and so will the godfather of creative coding, Keith Peters. There’s also a presentation from Google doodle developer Marcin Wichary. I’ll be speaking and running 2 workshops there (including one for non-coders).

Beyond Tellerrand Play info and booking.

CreativeJS Amsterdam sold out – want another?

Seb Lee-Delisle — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:59:04 +0000

[UPDATE] You wanted it so you got it! New Amsterdam workshop on 10-11 April, tickets on sale Weds 22 Feb at 11 GMT (12 CET). Booking and information on my training page.

It was quite a week – all of my courses sold out in a matter of days (Brighton in only 24 hours!). I’ll be setting up more throughout the year but I’m considering adding another Amsterdam date while I’m there if there’s enough demand.

More information about the courses on my training page. It’d be the full CreativeJS course, not the one for non-coders. If you’re interested please register your interest here.

Learn to code in 2012 – the visual way

Seb Lee-Delisle — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:47:02 +0000

If you’re a designer or artist and have never programmed JavaScript before, I’ve got a new course just for you : CreativeJS for non-coders. It assumes no pre-existing code knowledge (although a little HTML/CSS will be helpful) and we start from the very beginning with variables, functions, and objects.

If you’ve been following the podcast or my recent posts, you’ll know that I’m passionate about encouraging creative people to start programming – often once they get past the hump of incomprehension they can often be the best coders. At the very least you’ll be able to communicate with the programmers you work with better!

Every thing we do has a visual counterpart on an HTML5 canvas element. So you can see straight away the effects of your actions. It’s how I learned to code all those years ago…

Tickets go on sale tomorrow, more information and booking on my training page – sign up for the newsletter to hear about courses near you.

[UPDATE] Here are the files if you want to have a play for yourself!

[UPDATE 2] only 2 tickets left!

My review of 2011

Seb Lee-Delisle — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:36:14 +0000

flickr/adobeusergroup

It’s become a bit of an annual tradition for me to review my year. And it’s also a bit of a tradition for me to leave it quite late! I guess this process is a little self-indulgent, in truth, I’m so frantic most of the time that’s it’s a great opportunity to take stock and remind myself of all the incredible experiences I had in 2011. So here goes…

The year of JavaScript

3D pixel renderer from CreativeJS.com

2011 was the year of CreativeJS – I put together the first workshops in January, and haven’t looked back. There were around 20 last year all over the world, and I think that most, if not all, sold out.

There’s never been a greater demand to learn creative coding in JavaScript and I’m thankful that I’ve been able to transfer techniques across. And very lucky that people seem to like it!

CreativeJS.com

There was such a growing interest in CreativeJS that I launched a spin off website to showcase the best JS projects and tutorials in July – we’ve had nearly half a million page views since then!

Conferences

As the Flash community has somewhat dispersed, I’ve been branching out into other communities. I’ve spoken at many types of conference, not just JavaScript, but also wider web design, mobile, and digital art.

When you’re trying new things and meeting new people it can be intimidating – I’ve spent a lot of 2011 well outside of my comfort zone. But the initial awkwardness passes, and those strange faces quickly become familiar.

I’ve met all sorts of talented people across a variety of fields and without fail they’ve been incredibly welcoming and friendly.

Creative Coding Podcast

Iain Lobb and I started the Creative Coding Podcast in February. I’m not sure that either of us quite knew what to expect, but I’ve really enjoyed having a new outlet, and we recorded nearly 20 hours of material so far.

I think it often comes across better than the written word – listeners can hear the tone of your voice which really helps when the subject matter is contentious. So far, our podcasts had been downloaded nearly 200,000 times! The most popular episodes are Flashageddon and Robert Hodgin.

Projects

flickr/johansterenberg

By biggest project by far this year was PixelPhones, where I connect all the phones in the audience into a massive pulsing blinking display. I started it in April and I just about got a prototype together in time for September. It was my first really big project in openFrameworks and there was a huge learning curve.

It needs more refinement and optimisation but I have big secret plans for it in 2012 that will be announced in April.

Travelling

Lots of travelling this year with three trips to the US. First stop was SxSW in Austin, which is a very silly conference. Then my wife Jenny and I spent 2 months in New York which was boring. Nah only joking – it was New York! An amazing experience and fantastic chance to hang out with our friends there.

Finally in October I took the CreativeJS workshop on a sold-out tour through NY, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Washington DC. There were also trips to Sweden, Amsterdam (twice), and Germany.

In October I finally discovered Instagram and I love it. It’s a brilliant way to document my travels although a bit annoying that you can only easily share with other Instagrammers (my username: sebleedelisle). And if you’re not on there, I’ll be posting my photos on Flickr.

Teaching

There’s been lots of teaching, but not all in JavaScript. I ran an Arduino workshop at BuildBrighton, a Processing module at Sussex Downs College, and a session at Update about Corona, the iPhone and Android gaming platform.

It really got me thinking about teaching non-programmers and designers. This will be a theme for 2012.

Blog

You might have noticed that my blog has had a redesign – this is all thanks to the talented designer and friend, Val Head (who designed and writes for CreativeJS.com). It’s still a work in progress so expect to see a few more tweaks in the coming months.

What’s next?

Lots of new stuff, new workshops, and new conferences. I’m already getting booked up for most of the year, so if you think you might want me to come and speak at your event, I wouldn’t hang around!

2011 was a pretty stand-out year for me, let’s hope 2012 will be just as amazing.

My review of the year in .net magazine

EventBrite, please help us leave PayPal

Seb Lee-Delisle — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:36:25 +0000

flickr/alebonvini

Dear EventBrite,

Unless I set up bank accounts in every country I do business in I have no choice but to use PayPal with your service. I don’t want to stop seeing you but then I don’t want PayPal either. It’s me or the dog.

You and I have had a mostly happy relationship over the years. Sure, your content editor looks like it’s from the 90s, but that doesn’t matter to me. I’ve grown to love your cheery orange masthead, and large friendly typeface.

But now, it might finally be over. It’s just not working.

It’s not me, it’s you.

You might have noticed that people are having trouble with PayPal lately, especially event organisers. I’ve had my own fair share of trouble with them – on my recent US tour, they started refusing good credit cards for no reason.

So, understandably, I stopped using PayPal and wanted to use your credit card processing instead. I was a little worried that I wouldn’t get the money til after the event, but you thoughtfully set up advanced payments for me.

But disaster struck!

For my new Creative JavaScript workshop in Amsterdam, you wouldn’t accept my bank details, because it’s a UK bank, and the event isn’t in UK currency.

So I have no choice – either I set up bank accounts in every country I do business in, or I have to use PayPal. And frankly I’d rather stab myself in the face with a fork.

So this really could be it. Farewell my breezy orange friend. It’s been fun.

love

Seb

No related posts.

Creative JavaScript training courses for 2012

Seb Lee-Delisle — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:30:51 +0000

A quick heads-up : I’m in the process of putting new courses together for March and April in Brighton and Amsterdam. There’ll be a new Creative JavaScript course for complete non-coders, ideal for designers and artists to learn to code in a visual and fun way. But the existing CreativeJS is getting an overhaul too – it’s become so full of stuff, I’m making it a 3 day course, just to fit it all in!

Creative JavaScript training courses 2012

Live iPhone coding video now online

Seb Lee-Delisle — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:25:27 +0000

I posted about this a while ago, but it’s taken Aral a little while to get the videos together.

So here it is : me coding a kind of Angry Birds type thing in Corona live at the Update conference. Enjoy!

(More information and links to the files on this post).

(And you’ll be pleased to know I’ve had a haircut since then.)

Christmas round up!

Seb Lee-Delisle — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:09:13 +0000

It’s been a busy December so here’s a quick round-up of Christmas related things I’m involved with this year.

12 days of CreativeJS – for each of the 12 days of Christmas, we’ll be posting a bite-size CreativeJS tip.

Festive Creative Coding Podcast with Dan Shiffman, author of “Learning Processing” and creator of the Processing Kinect plug-in.

And on a more personal note, here’s our annual Christmas video song. A bit of a simpler one than in previous years but I hope you enjoy it!

No related posts.

My review of the year in .net magazine

Seb Lee-Delisle — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:00:15 +0000

It’s been quite a year, so I was really pleased that .net magazine gave me the chance to talk about everything that’s happened in the world of Flash and CreativeJS, my other projects like PixelPhones, and my plan to teach more designers and artists to program.

I hope to do a full review of my crazy year here (probably in January if previous years are anything to go by!) but in the meantime you can check out the interview here.

Live coding examples from Beyond Tellerand

Seb Lee-Delisle — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 15:07:06 +0000

Sorry this one’s taken a little while to post! At Marc Thiele’s excellent conference Beyond Tellerand a couple of weeks ago, I live coded some snow and other things in JavaScript, and here’s the code.

Keep an eye on the Beyond Tellerand Vimeo channel and you’ll be able to watch all the presentations as they’re uploaded.

And Happy Christmas!